Agentic AI has evolved into a crucial tool for procurement managers, providing businesses with the prospect of a digital partner that can help them act faster and make better decisions, according to a senior industry analyst.

"Agentic AI is the next open door for procurement to rethink how we do things," said Accenture Managing Director Bryan Doepken, speaking at Amazon Business's Reshape conference in Seattle, Washington, on November 12.

In a procurement sector increasingly under pressure from a fast-changing landscape of tariffs, ESG legislation and other factors, agentic AI systems are now actually running parts of the sourcing process, by finding suppliers, flagging risks, and managing contracts to keep projects on track and compliant. Up until recently, AI has mostly helped with analyzing data or suggesting next steps, but agentic AI can execute tasks and even make decisions. The result, Doepkin said, is faster deals, fewer bottlenecks, and a glimpse at how "self-driving" procurement might soon become the norm.

Doepken argued that, as procurement professionals have taken on more and more responsibilities, agentic AI has become a necessary tool for automating time-intensive transactional tasks, freeing up human workers to focus on high-level duties such as contract negotiations and risk management. Doepken says the goal isn't to replace people — rather, it's to give them back the time they need to make the sorts of decisions humans are best at.

"We're changing the nature of how humans are going to work," he said. "This is going to take on all the routine, rote stuff that we don't have to do anymore, and let us think. That's when innovation happens."

Doepken urged procurement businesses to prioritize getting these tools into their employees' hands as soon as possible, or risk getting left behind.